The present invention is directed toward an analytical test device for analyzing body fluids using immunochromotography, and more particularly toward a panel which consists of multiple tests which may be varied.
The measurement of physiologically important substances in urine, serum, and tissue using immunological principles is well known. In particular, drug-specific antibodies and antigens have been used in a variety of immunological assay procedures for detecting antibodies or antigens in bodily fluids of humans and animals. Test devices are known which can identify the presence or absence of drugs of abuse, such as cocaine, opiates, and marijuana, using the protein conjugates of these drugs and their accompanying antibodies. Multiple tests for detecting various drugs in a fluid sample where the tests are contained within a single device in a predetermined arrangement that cannot be varied are also known.
Such a multi-test device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,260,194 to Olson which is directed toward a method and device for determining the presence of an antigen or drug which specifically binds to an antibody contained on a test strip. The strip may be a single structure such as a sheet with several lanes so that a separate and different assay may be performed in each lane. However, this device does not provide for varying the tests to be conducted so that a wide variety of tests may be performed, as needed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,508,200 to Tiffany et al discloses a method for conducting multiple chemical assays which involves placing small volumes of samples/reagent combinations at discrete locations about a common test area on an analytical medium in order to test bodily fluids for various substances. Again, the tests contained in this device cannot be varied to suit the needs of the individual performing the test.
Also, U.S. Pat. No. 5,238,652 to Sun et al discloses an analytical test for assaying various drugs using immunochromatography. The patent discloses the use of multiple test strips in one structure but it does not disclose a structure where the test strips can be easily rearranged and varied, depending upon the needs of the individual conducting the test.
As indicated above, the problem with these multiple test devices is that the individual tests contained within the device cannot be varied. Frequently, the person conducting the test may not have a need for all of the tests contained in the device. For example, a laboratory may find that they only test for marijuana, cocaine, and heroin in the bodily fluid samples they collect. The only multi-test device available may be one that tests for marijuana, cocaine, and opium. Another, separate test would be needed to test for heroin. In this case, the multi-test device does not contain the combination of tests that the lab needs. As a result, the lab will waste the opium test every time they conduct the tests if they used the multi-test device. They must also find a separate test for heroin which may become time-consuming and expensive. If they don't use the multi-test device, they must find three individual tests, which may also become time-consuming and expensive. Furthermore, they will have at least two devices which will have to be labeled and kept together. Clearly, such a multi-test device does not fully suit the needs of the lab.